On 31/10/2006 BigMike wrote:>Asver zer qvestion!? What camera ... you using film or digital? Great>pix that's why us hackers want to know....

Canon 5D Digital SLR. Most of the wildlife was taken with a Canon 200mm F2.8L, the rest with a Canon 24-105 F4L.

> Any naughty photoshop tweaking?

Nothing has been added or removed from the image unless it was a dust spot or lens flare. I very rarely crop, prefer to compose onsite. When shooting into the sun I'll recover over-exposed highlights so the image is correctly exposed. Plus the usual contrast, levels, saturation, white balance, etc if the camera got it wrong.

Back in the day when I used to shoot a lot of slide film I considered it a success when I managed to get 2 excellent shots in a roll of 36 (actually often 38). If I got three I was doing very well. You obviously have your technique well dialled.

I wonder what the likes of onsight or new wavers like mousey consider a success rate?

Neil is right, I delete in the field quite heavily. If we are counting actual shutter clicks, it's probably double (more like 1000), given that I tend to auto bracket some scenes and reshoot some to correct exposure after checking the histogram. Also bear in mind I tend to shoot the same scene from multiple angles and in differing light (possiblly over a few return visits), so I end up with a lot of duplicates.

Once on a PC I'll then review and kill off anything that doesn't imediately grab me. If it doesn't say "wow" to me, it's gone. Even if the composition is nice and the focus and light is good, it can still be a boring shot. I hit "delete" ruthlessly :-). The test I have in my head is "yeah, it's nice, but would you hang it on your wall?".

On 18/01/2007 M9iswhereitsat wrote:>I wonder what the likes of onsight or new wavers like mousey consider>a success rate?

dunno bout simey, but for me it depends on the situation. if its good light and a cool looking climb, id be pretty happy with 2 real gold shots & 4-5 'B selects'- im at the stage where about 20-25 shots on a 36exp roll are usable but im pretty ruthless with my own work in terms of culling down.

anyway this thread is not about me! its about mikes photos, which imho are effin excellent

Just got back from Ayers Rock (Uluru). In the interest of keeping this mildly about climbing here's a pic of "the climb" - an easy slab route maybe grade 2? Though steep enough that you'd not want to solo the greased section without the aid of the rail. The rock in general had a brittle surface, though with stunning height. It did just cry out to be climbed (or walked in this case).

You're only about a third of the way up here, though the rest is much less steep. For the landscapes (non climbing), see here. I had a great deal of fun, though 2 days driving (12 hrs per) and 2 back again was pushing the boundaries of boredom. Petrol hit 176 cents per litre. Camping ranged from free to $15 a night. Distance from camp to rock: 20km. All up a good experience and well recommended.

Like 8c+/9a doesn't give any idea of how aesthetic a line is but we grade them anyway: 9a ***

I like the landscape aspect of Mike's portfolio, each time there's something new posted I look at them and feel like heading off somewhere...especially so when gazing out the window today, the bloody weather has been shockin' here in CH lately.